Looming Darkness
by Xenek
Summary: A girl has begun her very own Pokémon journey, but something strange is going on. Wild Pokémon are, for reasons unknown, overly hostile.
1. Chapter 1

The day had finally come. For Xanora, it was the true beginning of her life. Finally sixteen, it was time to begin her own Pokémon journey. No more sitting at home with barely any freedom. Now, she would be free to explore the region.

She had done odd jobs around her town to save up money since she turned eleven. It started with only pulling weeds, a tedious chore that almost had her quit the attempt at earning money on her own. Determined to have money for when she could finally begin her Pokémon journey, however, she stubbornly kept at it. As the townsfolk took note of her honest efforts, they offered her one job after the next. It took but a year to have enough money to buy several Pokeballs and potions, but she continued to save what she earned. After all, she didn't need the Pokeballs or potions just then.

Now, sixteen, she had more than enough in her savings to get anything she needed while on her journey. For a while, anyway. She wasn't sure how much she'd end up using, nor how quickly. Thoughts like those could wait for later, though. Grinning brightly in her excitement, the teenage girl looked down to her partner, a black canine-like Pokémon with golden rings on its legs, tail and forehead. "Ready to actually live, buddy?" The umbreon shared in her eagerness, its tail wagging slightly from side to side.

Slipping her arms through the straps of her backpack, she headed from her room to the front door, the dark Pokémon following close behind. Her father was horrible with good-byes, so he had thrown her a small party the night before. She knew he was watching out the window as she headed toward the professors lab and gave a small wave back toward the house, not actually turning to look. She didn't need to see the sad expression she knew he'd have as he watched her leave.

Stepping into the Pokémon lab, she was greeted by the sound of researchers hurrying about. Papers were being shuffled, Pokeballs shifted from place to place and a few of the men either tapping their foot or stomping around. It was odd seeing most of the researchers and assistants agitated. One of the men closer to the back threw his arms up, his voice raised just enough for her to hear what he said to the other guy. "Why in the hell would he leave on his own at a time like this?! I swear the professor's an idiot!"

One brow quirked up at the words. She knew Professor Elm was a bit... strange. But to be called an idiot by his own assistant? Something had happened, that much was obvious, but she hadn't the faintest what it could be. It was then that one of the men stomping around took notice of her. "Xanora! Hey!" His frown shifted to a smile, though it was just a tad bit obvious that it was forced. "Right, it's your birthday today. Ready to run around the world, huh?"

The umbreon by her side shifted slightly, showing its discomfort. It could sense its partners own slight discomfort, as well as confusion. Bending down slightly, the girl pat its head to reassure it. "Yeah, today's the day."

Holding the forced smile, the assistant motioned toward a side room before starting toward it. Xanora followed, her Pokémon staying close to her. "You're already aware that you don't get to choose a starter, right?" He glanced back as he spoke, and she gave him a nod. She had her partner already, so there was no need for a selection. Most sixteen-year-old's avoided befriending a Pokémon that wasn't a family pet just so they could get their choice, but she was more than fine with having her buddy by her side. "Alright. So, here's your Pokedex." He reached the desk inside the room and pulled out the small red handheld computer on Pokémon. Before he held it out to her, however, he spoke again. "Remember to register yourself as a trainer once you reach the Pokémon Center in Cherrygrove City." Taking the offered Pokedex, she could have sworn he mumbled, "if you make it," under his breath. Well that wasn't ominous at all.

Stepping from the office-like room she had been led to, the young girl walked up to one of the assistants that were close to the exit. "Excuse me? Could you tell me something?"

"Hm? Sure, what is it?"

Xanora took a moment to figure out how to word what she wanted to know. "I've heard that it might be dangerous between towns and cities right now. Is that true?" She'd only heard the other guy mumble, "if you make it," so it wasn't so much that she'd heard it as that it was implied. Still, it was an innocent enough question. Especially if Professor Elm was being called an idiot for going out on his own. That added to her new suspicion.

Crossing his arms and leaning to one side, the blond assistant frowned slightly. "Well, being on your own is always dangerous, no matter where you are." That did not answer the question. Thankfully, he went on. "But for some reason, Pokémon have been more aggressive than usual for a while now." He shook his head, apparently relieved to be able to say this to someone, even though she wasn't the person he should probably be telling. "It's bad enough out there that not too many kids are coming by to pick up a starter, anymore." Only after he spoke that last part did he seem to notice that she herself was just starting out, thus not someone he should be telling this to. He smiled brightly, setting his hands on his hips. "Oh, but don't worry! You've already got a Pokémon with you, so unlike the kids coming here on their own, you'll be fine out there!" He laughed and turned, walking away from her.

All the girl could do was stare after the laughing assistant. Everyone wanted to start a journey of their own, so Pokémon being a bit more aggressive than usual wouldn't stop so many people from trying. A chill went down her spine. What was going on that no one was saying? That no one wanted to say. A nudge against her leg brought her attention to her partner, and she offered the Pokémon a small smile. "I'm alright, Shard. Don't worry." Taking a deep breath and letting it out to relax her nerves, she perked up again. Talk of danger wasn't going to stop her from being a trainer. No way no how.

After leaving the lab, she headed toward the path leading to Cherrygrove City. Once she reached the outskirts of New Bark town, her hometown, she stopped and looked down at her partner. Shard the umbreon was by her side, also stopped, and looking up at her. His eyes reflected the same eagerness and determination in her own. "Let's do this, buddy!" A grin spread across her face as she spoke, and the Pokémon gave a sharp nod in response. At once, they both stepped forward into their new lives.

* * *

Okay, first off, I know this was short, but I wanted to get at least this much out before I ended up giving up on the idea, which I have done multiple times before. At least now, with the beginning up, I have a reason to continue it.

For this story, I would appreciate any and all input. Even ideas for what could happen later on will be taken into consideration. Of course, I wont use anything that conflicts with the main plot, which I have only given a small hint to in this opening act.

I hope you enjoyed the read, short though it was this time around.


	2. Chapter 2

Note - Xanora is pronounced as Zan-ore-uh

* * *

Route 29 was mostly uneventful. After hearing that Pokémon were being more aggressive than usual, Xanora had expected to end up being attacked constantly. Instead, the opposite was true. Every single Pokémon they came across fled if they got close, and those further away just watched the two. The new trainer was feeling a bit on edge, having pidgey, ratatta and sentret nestled inside bushes or on branches, watching their every move. It was almost as if they were waiting for something to happen, maybe for the girl to attack them.

As uneasy as the black-haired girl was, she hurried along the path. She was hoping that it was only the Pokémon here on Route 29 that were acting so strange. Shard, her partner umbreon, also seemed perplexed at the behavior of the other Pokémon as he kept close to his friend. He vaguely recalled back when he was an eevee, wandering around the woods. People were strange to him, but nothing to be afraid of. None of the other Pokémon he ran into back then were so cautious, either. What he noticed that his trainer likely didn't was how the Pokémon here were also keeping distance from each other, not just the two of them.

Reaching Cherrygrove City, Xanora paused to catch her breath, leaning over to have her hands on her knees. She wasn't used to walking that fast for such a long distance. Running a bit out of breath was better than taking it slow and giving the strange-acting Pokémon more time to do something weird, though. To her slight irritation, Shard was next to her, sitting calmly as he waited for her to catch her breath. He showed no sign at all of being tired. "Sure, show off how fit you are." She gave a slight frown to the Pokémon as she spoke, to which he gave a small chuckle-like purr from his throat.

"You little show off." The girl laughed lightly, ruffling the fur on the Pokémon's head. Standing straight again, she took a look around at what she could see of the city. It was larger than New Bark Town, that much was for sure. Not used to being anywhere but the forest and her small town, she was just a bit anxious. Surely the city wasn't large enough to get lost, though. "Keep an eye out for the Pokémon Center," she instructed both herself and her partner as she began forward.

Much to her relief, the destination was found within mere minutes. No thanks to her, however, as she was distracted by just how many people were bustling about. It was Shard tugging on her pant leg that brought her attention to the building they was looking for. Giving her buddy a thankful pat on the head, they headed inside the building.

Being a place to heal your Pokémon, she had expected to see more than just the one single person sitting among the many chairs. Was everyone in this city so strong that no wild Pokémon could injure their partners? She shook her head at the thought. That was just silly, and obviously not the case.

Stepping up to the counter, she slid her new Pokedex from her pocket and held it up for the nurse to see. "Hello, I was told I needed to register here for being a trainer. How do I do that?"

The nurse with pink hair stepped over, her smile a somewhat tired one. "A new trainer? That's fantastic, that aren't too many anymore." She gave a short giggle. "You don't need to register to be a trainer, though. Just to enter the Pokémon League Challenge, where you collect eight badges in order to enter the Pokémon League."

"Oh." Xanora stared for a moment, considering the information. That assistant back at the lab hadn't told her much, but it would've been nice if he explained this sort of thing to her so she didn't look like a moron. Glancing down to her partner, she considered the idea of challenging the gyms and entering the League. Shard would get a lot stronger, and she'd catch and train other Pokémon as well to get through the challenge. She already planned to challenge at least one gym, just for the sake of seeing how well she could do with training her partner, but going through an entire challenge wasn't something she'd thought to do before. A smirk spreading, she looked back to the nurse with a nod. "Yes, please. I'd like to register for that." This journey just got a lot more exciting.

Nodding, the nurse motioned to a machine on the corner of the counter with a wave of her arm. "Just put your Pokedex inside the slot, and you'll be registered."

"Thanks," Xanora responded with a small nod while stepping over to the machine. An entire challenge awaited her, and all she needed to do was register for it. Her excitement growing, she slid the handheld into the slot and waited. It didn't take long, just a few moments, before the machine beeped and announced that she had been registered for the League Challenge. Taking her Pokedex back from the slot, she once more slid it into her pocket.

Glancing outside, she took note of the sky beginning to darken. If only she hadn't woken up early to start the day as quickly as possible. Night was her favorite time of day, as her partner clearly showed. Knowing she'd end up not getting far before being too tired to continue, she gave up on the idea of continuing right that moment. Instead, she walked over to one of the corners of the lobby and sat in the chair there. Shard tilted his head, curious what she was intending. "Come on up, buddy. We're gonna catch a nap, then get going again."

She had spent countless nights sleeping outside, usually using a tree as either a seat or a bed, so an actual seat was easy enough to sleep in. The first time she decided to sleep outside, she'd worried her father sick. He told her not to do it again, but she didn't listen. Nature was more her home than her room was, so she'd spent most of her time outside. Which was how she'd met her best friend, actually. The little eevee had stumbled upon her while she was using a flower patch as a bed.

Closing her eyes, the new trainer wiggled around slightly to get into a more comfortable position in the chair to get some sleep. She heard her buddy jump into the chair next to her, curling up in a ball to get some sleep as well. Unlike her, he fell asleep rather quickly. It was his soft, rhythmic breathing that finally lulled her to sleep.

A soft growling woke Xanora from her light slumber. Blinking her eyes several times to get her vision right, she yawned and stretched her legs out from her balled up position in the chair. It was good to be small, she could ball up just about anywhere. "What is it, Shard?" Looking to her buddy, she saw that he was mostly sitting, but slightly crouched, growling softly at something in front of them.

Not alarmed in the least, since she knew she had chosen a safe place for their nap, she glanced over to the pink ball of a Pokemon, which was standing next to the pink-haired nurse, who was holding a blanket. Not the scene she'd expected to see upon waking. Rubbing her eyes, she adjusted herself to be sitting upright. "Something wrong, miss..." She didn't get the lady's name before, come to think of it, so she went with what she was. "Nurse?" The umbreon glanced at his partner, his growling halted as he took note of just how calm the girl was with being confronted by the two. He did return his crimson gaze to the pink duo, however, his keen eyes watching for the slightest hint of danger.

With the growling stopped, the nurse smiled slightly. It was an uneasy smile, but a smile nonetheless. "We have a few rooms for trainers to stay in when spending the night. All Pokémon Centers do, really. But when Chansey here tried to pick you up to move you to one of the rooms, your umbreon started growling." She glanced to the black Pokémon, her eyes showing her unease, then looked back to the girl again. "I was going to at least give you a blanket instead, but it started growling again, and even got up when I got close."

The nurse was obviously thinking more about Shard's growling than the girl not knowing her name. Curious, Xanora looked down to see just how close Shard had allowed them to get before he warned them against coming any closer. The pink ball Pokémon, Chansey it was called, was five feet away. The nurse was four feet away. "Sorry about that, nurse, Shard's a little on the protective side." She offered a smile to the woman, hoping to ease her nerves. After all, being nervous or scared around the umbreon only put him even more on guard.

Letting out a soft sigh, the nurse returned her smile, lowering the blanket instead of holding it up like a flimsy shield. "If you want to get some more sleep, I can show you to one of the rooms. Oh, and my name's Joy." Finally, her smile was without worry. That worry gone, Shard lowered himself to a natural sitting posture instead of a semi-crouch.

Reaching over to stroke her partners head, Xanora couldn't help but feel grateful to him. Sure, he was a bit of a worry wort, but it was with good cause. If not for him, she more than likely would have died a few years back. She could hardly scold him for worrying, after that experience.

"Thanks, nurse Joy." She tilted her head slightly, finally noticing that the lobby only had dim lighting. "Actually, what time is it?"

Her smile turning apologetic, the nurse responded with, "around midnight."

Taking the slight apology to mean she was sorry for waking her up at such an hour, she laughed a little. "Great. I only wanted a nap, so the time's perfect. Thanks for the offer for a room, though." Getting up from the seat and stretching out once more, she headed for the doors. The umbreon leaped from his chair and stretched out as well before following after her.

"Are you sure?" The nurse sounded a little worried, considering most people wouldn't want to even go near the forest while it was dark out. Receiving only a wave in response, she shook her head before calling out to be careful.

Stepping into the cool, crisp night air, Xanora glanced up to the moon and stars. If the moon was full instead of a crescent, this would be a perfect night for catching her first new Pokémon. Still, a crescent was nice to look at. She then remembered how all of the Pokémon had acted on Route 29, which had her frowning slightly. Shaking her head, she grinned and looked toward the direction of Route 30. Surely the Pokemon there wouldn't be as timid or uneasy as the others.

Turning her grin to her partner, she said, "alright buddy, light the way." Once Shard's golden rings began to glow, she followed the Pokémon out of the city. Sure the glow wasn't as good as a flashlight, but she trusted her Pokémon to know the way, and so following him was just fine for getting where she wanted to go. Not to mention she had pretty good night vision herself, loving the dark as she did.


	3. Chapter 3

Route 30 seemed as though it was going to be just as uneventful as Route 29, at first. The moon shining down, the stars twinkling up above and the Pokémon staying far away from the trainer and her glowing umbreon. Once the duo made it halfway through the route, however, things took a rather drastic change.

Following the much traveled path so as to avoid getting lost in the wilderness, the girl expected to make good time in reaching Violet City, where she would challenge her first gym for a badge. Feeling good about the pleasant, uneventful night, she had begun humming softly to herself. Knowing the tune after hearing it so often, her partner stomped every once in a while to add a beat to it.

The cheerful humming and stomp-drumming came to an abrupt end when a rattata lunged from the nearby bushes, its jaws open wide as it aimed for the girls' bare arm. The rustling of the bushes caught Xanora's attention, but she was wholly unprepared for such an attack. Much to her relief, Shard was plenty prepared. Possibly due to her clumsiness in the past, but that was a whole other story.

Before the rat Pokémon could reach his trainer, the umbreon pushed himself backward a small ways before leaping forward to strike the wild Pokémon down with a swift paw to its side in a Faint Attack. Sure the rat wasn't targeting him, but making a distracting move before actually striking was just something he always did. A habit of sorts.

Hissing at the unexpected strike, the purple rat lifted itself from the ground. It had landed on its side, skidding briefly from the impact. Instead of being to the girls' side, it was now in front of her. For the rat, it was a decent angle of attack even still. It crouched down for a moment before lunging forward, faster than before. It was using its Quick Attack, this time aiming for the trainers' stomach.

Not about to allow this Pokémon to injure his friend, the umbreon leaped into action with his own Quick Attack. Their heads collided in the air as the two strikes met, a dull smacking sound reverberating through the still night air. Being three times the rats size, as well as stronger than it, Shard pushed the rat backward, away from his trainer. Now between the rat and his trainer, he crouched low with his golden circles glowing brightly in warning.

Yet another odd behavior from wild Pokémon showed itself. The rattata ignored the umbreon's clear warning that he was ready to kill it if necessary. Instead, it leaped for the black Pokémon with its jaws wide in another Super Fang attack, aiming for the other Pokémon's neck. The action bewildered him, but Shard responded quickly enough to halt the rats attack. He growled slightly as his tail began to glow a dull silver. Before the wild Pokémon reached him, he did a front flip and slammed his Iron Tail into its head.

The small rat lay motionless on the ground after the attack. It wasn't even twitching. Unsure of what to think, Xanora slowly made her way toward the Pokémon, expecting for it to merely be unconscious. After all, a Pokémon strong enough to be adamant about battling Shard had to be strong enough to survive a hit like that.

Reaching the rats side, the girl bent down and slowly reached a hand out to check for a pulse from its neck. Nothing. She held her breath, willing her heart to stop pounding like it was, and paid as close attention as she could to what her fingers could feel. Again, there was nothing.

The small Pokémon lay dead at her feet. It wasn't the first dead Pokémon that she'd seen, but it was the first one she had actually watched die. It was unnerving.

Attempting to look on the bright side, the trainer straightened herself and gave a somewhat nervous smile to her partner. "Guess you just got breakfast, bud."

The umbreon had lived off smaller, wild Pokémon before she befriended him, and he still enjoyed a true, nature-made meal every once in a while. He did know, however, that it disturbed her to watch him eat said meals. Shard gave her a small nod before lifting the dead rat between his teeth and carrying it off to behind the bushes. After the first few times of eating in front of her, and seeing her puking as a result, he had made it a habit to conceal himself from her.

A few moments later, the umbreon returned to his trainers side from the bushes. His maw and paws had some blood smeared on them, but that part never seemed to bother the girl. It was only the body itself that ever seemed to bother her. As per usual, she shook her head with a small smile as she pat his head. "Always the sloppy eater." This joking tease had begun shortly after he started hiding his meal times from her, and so he took it as the joke it was, a small rumble emanating from his throat in what was probably a half chuckle and half snort.

Turning from the girl, the umbreon started forward on the path again, lightly slapping his tail against her leg as he moved. "I know, I know. Gotta keep moving." She rolled her eyes as her Pokémon urged her forward. He likely wanted her away from the carcass instead of simply wanting to move quickly, though. Which reminded her. "You know, I don't know where any ponds or streams are, since we're not at home anymore. You better clean yourself up every chance you get." She got no response from him that time, but she knew he understood and likely agreed. Back home, he tended to be quick with cleaning the blood off himself after a nature-made meal.

As the duo continued forward, they were greeted with one attack after the next. There were several rattata and spinarak that tried to attack the trainer, but each was fended off by the alert umbreon. He did what he could to hold back enough to not leave dead bodies behind, but they were persistent enough in their attacks that some ended up dead even with his efforts to simply knock them out. It was unnerving to the trainer, to say the least, seeing just how badly the wild Pokémon wanted to get her.

The sky was just beginning to lighten as a hoothoot swooped down at the two. After so many grounded Pokémon attacking, even Shard wasn't as prepared as usual to fend it off. The owl had come just close enough to peck at Xanora's head when the umbreon jumped up to kick it away. "Ah!" The girl lifted her hand to cover the spot on her head, to the top right of her forehead, that had been hit.

Catching the faint scent of blood from his friend, Shard growled angrily at the wild Pokémon, one of his fangs peeking out from his mouth as he did. His golden rings were glowing brightly, just like with that very first rattata. The night was almost over, and he had prevented any and all injury to the girl until this one owl showed up.

Sensing the obvious anger from the dark Pokémon, and seeing the girl covering her head with one hand, the hoothoot hooted triumphantly. Sure it got pushed away from the human before doing any more damage to it, but its guard hadn't managed to hurt it when it kicked it away. It was off to a good start.

Doing his best to lock his anger away, Shard stared the owl down. Anger only made him miss chances at defeating his opponents, and that wasn't something he could risk. Not while his friend was the main target. "Shard, try your Confuse Ray!" The order from his trainer surprised him enough to have him glance back at her to confirm. The girl had claimed many times before that when they finally got to wander around, Confuse Ray would be their key to catching other Pokémon without hurting them too badly.

She actually wanted to catch a Pokémon that had just attacked her.

Sighing, the umbreon looked to the thrilled owl and obeyed. His eyes and rings began to glow blue as the attack was made. Once it was out, his eyes and rings returned to their normal coloring. At the same time, the cheery owl started to turn its head around as if trying to find something. Spreading its wings wide, apparently locating what it had been looking for, the hoothoot flew from the branch it had perched on and smacked straight into the trunk of a tree on the other side of the walking path. So much for assuming Confuse Ray wasn't that great a move. It seemed to work wonders on these wild Pokémon.

Smirking, Xanora crouched down and opened her backpack. Locating the pocket she had placed several Pokeballs into, she grabbed one and stood again, throwing the ball at the grounded hoothoot. Hitting the back of the Pokémon, it bounced up and opened, a red light covering the Pokémon before getting sucked inside, the ball then landing in the grass.

With a hopeful grin, the girl watched as the ball shook back and forth. After a few moments, it stopped shaking. Nothing came out. "Yes!" Bringing her fist up in front of herself in victory, she grinned widely. Shard just sat where he was, watching his trainer rush to the newly acquired Pokémon in joy. She picked the ball up and beamed at her partner, showing him the ball. "I always thought a noctowl would be a great partner for you, and now we're one step closer to having one!"

The umbreon blinked at that. Thinking back, he did vaguely recall her saying once or twice before that she'd wanted a noctowl as part of their team. Something about how a flying Pokemon would be great to have around, but something that could see in the dark as well as he did would be even better. Made sense, he supposed.

Her stomach growling, Xanora lowered the Pokeball and chuckled weakly. Her partner may have eaten, but she hadn't. With the excitement of having a new Pokémon on her team, her stomach was reminding her who the real boss was. Hunger.

Returning to the backpack that she had left in the middle of the path, the girl plopped down and dug out the remaining sandwich she'd brought from home. It was a bit soggy, possibly stale, but it was better than nothing. Shrugging a shoulder, she ate the last thing of food she still had for herself. She still had plenty of Poké food for Shard, but only because he enjoyed his nature-made meals and didn't eat the pellets all the time.

No longer quite so hungry, she took out her Pokedex and scanned the Pokeball with her newest Pokémon in it. It was a male and knew the attacks Peck, Foresight, Wing Attack and Hypnosis. She knew it had Peck, since it very clearly had a beak, but it was nice to know what else it could do. The Pokedex was really handy for this sort of thing.

Nodding to herself, Xanora let the Pokémon out of the ball. Knowing which gender it was, she already had a name for him. "Welcome to the team, Klaudan." She was smiling as she greeted the owl, but that didn't seem to matter. No sooner had she gotten the words out than when the Pokémon flew at her, obviously about to attack her again.

Eyes wide in both surprise and alarm, Xanora was too shocked to make any sort of move. Thankfully, Shard was a lot more alert than she was, as he quickly knocked the owl down. Fumbling for a moment, the girl managed to point the ball at her new Pokémon and recall it. "Why...?" The question was more one she was asking herself, and she hadn't even meant to speak it aloud.

A Pokémon was supposed to be nice and calm and friendly after it was caught. That's what she had been taught all her life. Sure, some might remain stubborn or feisty, but never aggressive. At least, not to the one who caught it.

Remembering the words from both nurse Joy and the assistant at Elm's lab, she couldn't help but wonder. Were Pokémon more aggressive than usual, not just in the wild, but all around? Her Shard was normal, so that couldn't be right. Yet the hoothoot she had just caught showed different. Was it that a tame Pokémon remained tame, but a wild Pokémon couldn't be tamed anymore? If that was the case, why was it happening. And how.

More confused than she could recall ever being, she simply stared down at the ball in her hand. Her ever loyal umbreon was at her side, leaning against her in an attempt to comfort her, but she could barely feel him there. Her mind was far too occupied with all of the questions she had that seemed to have no answer.

The only thing the trainer could think to do was get to Violet City. Surely a gym leader, with all of their experience with Pokémon, could tell her what was going on. They would know the answers.

* * *

Note: Klaudan is pronounced as kl-uh-dawn


	4. Chapter 4

Upon waking from her much needed sleep, Xanora sat up and took one look around before rubbing her eyes to take a better look at what she was seeing. There were several Pokemon circling her, all out cold or possibly dead, though each was a minimum of six feet away. Most of the bodies were rattata and hoothoot, though there were also a few spinarak and bellsprout. To her surprise, there was even a zubat on the ground several feet away to her left side and a gastly that was snoring several feet in front of her, a bit to the right. There was even a lone poliwag some ten feet behind her.

"No way..." The girl shook her head, rubbing her eyes once more. All of the Pokémon were still there. None had vanished after her eyes had opened again. Groaning, she looked down to the umbreon that was right by her side, his visible eye only barely open. "All of these guys attacked while I was sleeping?" She put emphasis on her first word, bemused by how that could even be possible.

When she received a throaty growl-like grunt in response from her partner, she furrowed her brow in a slight frown. If Shard had fought off that many Pokémon all on his own, all throughout the night, he had to be totally exhausted.

Twisting herself around to search the backpack she had used as a pillow that night, she retrieved her small black fanny pack. She had taken it with her for when she actually had enough Pokémon to need a quick and easy spot to reach their balls. With two Pokémon now, soon a third, it was probably time to start wearing it instead of stashing it inside her backpack. The main reason she brought it out at that moment, however, was due to Shard's Pokeball already being inside the pouch.

Hearing the rustle of his trainer's pack, the umbreon's ears twitched. He knew she had some potions stored away in there, as well as some bandages in a first aid kit she insisted on having with her for the journey. He was going to make a declining motion to the girl when she showed him a potion, but he instead saw his ball in her hand. His eyes narrowed as he growled at her. Not threatening, as he wouldn't think to harm his friend, but he needed to show her that he was not about to make it easy on her to hide him away in his ball.

Lifting her other hand so that she was holding her partners Pokeball in both of her hands, she stared worriedly at the dark Pokémon. "But you can rest if you're in your ball. Actually rest, not half rest." Another growl. He was always the stubborn one when he had his mind set. "Fine, don't get proper rest..." He gave a snort this time, as if he was saying that he was plenty rested. "Just do me a favor and take it easy for a while, okay? At least until we get to Violet City or find a safe place to rest." She put decent emphasis on the word 'safe,' hoping to get her friend to relax at least a little as they continued onward. This time he grunted, as if saying, "whatever" or something similar.

Shaking her head at just how hard working her friend was, with the stubbornness of a tauros, she turned her attention to the gastly snoozing several feet away. Ghost Pokémon weren't very easy to find, let alone catch. Unless they wanted to haunt you, that was. Better still, she had always liked haunter. That Pokémon just looked so cool, to her. She wasn't sure if they were strong or not, all she knew was that she would adore having such a cool Pokémon as a part of her team.

Slowly, she crept toward the sleeping ghost with one more of her empty Pokeballs in hand. In an attempt to not wake it up with its imminent capture, she gently tapped the Pokémon with the ball, the capture device opening and closing again while still in her hand. The ghost seemed to remain asleep, unaware of its capture, as the ball shook only once before the light signified her successful capture.

Xanora couldn't help but grin then, thrilled with her third Pokémon. Shard, her best buddy, was an umbreon. An amazing stalker of the night that could follow nearly anyone without being noticed. Klaudan was a hoothoot, hopefully a noctowl sooner rather than later. Noctowl was a silent stalker as well, though the aerial kind. And then there was her new gastly, hopefully a haunter in a short while. Being a ghost, it could of course move silently as well.

All three of her Pokémon were perfectly suited for the night life, though they could each manage during the day hours as well.

Her grin faded as she recalled her current dilemma, however. A problem that forced her to take notice of it, what with the amount of knocked out or dead Pokémon all around her that her buddy had stopped from harming her while she'd slept. A frown replaced her faded grin as she stared at the recently filled Pokeball in her hand. If Klaudan had been aggressive even after being caught, it would make sense that this gastly would be, too.

Enthusiasm lost, Xanora slipped the fanny pack around her waist, the pouch to her front, and placed all three of her claimed Pokeballs inside. Just in case she'd need the quick access, she also placed two empty ones inside. Slipping her backpack over her shoulders once more, she looked to her tired friend. "Can you handle going for a while?" The Pokémon snorted at her, lifting himself up with ease. Giving him a small smile and nod, they started once more toward the city.

.

Several more attacks had occurred before the duo finally reached Violet City. Pidgey were the main culprits during that time, though there were plenty of rattata and bellsprout as well. Much to the trainers shock, at the time, even a few caterpie had tried attacking them. The green worm seemed to be one of the most docile Pokémon in the region, yet there they were attacking her. The level of aggression in all of the wild Pokémon was beginning to make her much more anxious than she would like.

Just like with Cherrygrove City, Xanora was a bit overwhelmed with how large the place was. The buildings were a bit further apart in this city, giving it at least a slightly more natural feel, but there were still a lot more buildings and a ton more people roaming about in this city. Yet again, just as the previous time, it was Shard that pointed the way to the Pokémon Center by tugging at her pant leg.

Walking into the building of healing, the trainer made her way up to the counter. She noticed how the nurse here looked exactly the same as the nurse from the previous city, making her wonder if they were possibly twins. Pushing the thought aside, she greeted the kind-looking lady. "Hello, good afternoon. Could you take a look at my buddy here, please? He's been pushing himself all day." The words earned her a slap from the umbreon's tail against her leg, and narrowed eyes when she looked down at him to see what he wanted. She gave a half smile to her friend, hoping he would understand her concern.

"Of course," the pink-haired nurse responded, followed by, "Chansey, please bring a gurney." The pink Pokémon called Chansey wheeled over a flat bed-table and looked to the umbreon, waiting for him to either jump onto it or be picked up and put on.

Instead of jumping up onto the table, Shard turned his head to stare up at his trainer with disapproval. He always hated being pulled away from her side, which also lead to him not liking being inside his Pokeball at all. After all, while inside the ball, he had no way to ensure that he stayed with her.

Kneeling down to be at eye level with her Pokémon, Xanora lifted a hand to stroke his head and scratch lightly behind his ear. "Please, Shard. I want to know for sure that you're doing okay." Glancing sideways to the nurse, she figured she'd make an attempt at getting the stubborn umbreon to cooperate easier. "By any chance, could I stay close while he gets checked out?"

The nurse tilted her head slightly to the side with a kind smile, her eyes showing warmth. "Of course you can. It's fantastic that you care so much about your Pokémon. Just stay to the side so you don't get in the way, alright?"

Nodding, the trainer looked to her buddy again, smirking. "You heard her, I'll be right with you. So?" She let the last word drag out a little, almost as a small taunt. Slowly, the dark Pokémon made his way up onto the gurney, his eyes locked on his trainer the entire way. It was obvious he was ready to leap off if his trainer didn't follow him into whatever room they were going to take him.

( - )

With Shard getting some much needed sleep in the recovery room, Xanora decided to try getting a few answers out of the nurse, who turned out to also be called Joy. Oddly enough, the nurse told her that all of the Pokémon Centers in the region were run by her very, very large family that all looked very similar to one another.

Thankfully, the recovery room had a glass window for the people outside of the room to see the Pokémon inside, and vice versa, which was where she began asking her questions. "Nurse Joy? Do you know why the wild Pokémon are being so... Well, aggressive?"

Nurse Joy shook her head with a sad sigh. "No, I don't. No one does, really. It started almost two years ago, if I remember right. All of the Pokémon suddenly started attacking everyone. There didn't seem to be any preference in who they attacked, just so long as they were attacking someone." Another sad sigh escaped her. She looked toward the lobby as she continued. "We used to have trainers coming and going every day, challenging Falkner, the gym leader here. The students at the Pokémon School used to come here frequently, too. They were always playing around with the wild Pokémon, learning from them as well as the Pokémon the school itself has. Now, though, no children even want to get near Pokémon. They're scared of them. Everyone is. Enough so that the police station has patrols set to keep the city safe and wild-Pokémon free."

If that didn't shock Xanora, nothing would. Kids being afraid of Pokémon instead of adoring everything about them? It just didn't sound right. It didn't seem real. "But... Catching one of them should calm them down, right?" Knowing that they did not calm down, she hurriedly added, "why doesn't it? Are the Pokeballs defective, or something?"

The nurse was about to answer when more questions were asked. "So you caught a Pokémon or two on your way here, huh?" She shook her head, obviously at a loss. "We tried that here, too. Catching the wild Pokémon to try to settle them down. It didn't work though, they stayed aggressive. Horribly so. It was almost like capturing them made them even more mad than they already were."

That was not something the trainer wanted to hear. Yes, her new hoothoot had attacked her straight after she tried to greet it, but she'd thought it just stayed as attack-happy as it already was. If her two new Pokémon were going to be even worse...

A thought struck her then. "What about Falkner? If he's a gym leader, he's got to know something."

Confused sorrow was the expression the nurse gave this time around. "Something happened to him. No one knows what, but something changed him. He stays in the gym at all times, never leaving. He only talked about defeating any challenger, when someone tried to talk to him. Nothing else. And if a Pokémon went into the gym, he had his Pidgeot attack without a moments notice." Joy shook her head, at a loss. "A lot of the Pokémon he attacked that way didn't make it."

Both the wild Pokémon -and- the gym leader were being aggressive and hostile. That didn't sound good, to Xanora. Not at all. If a gym leader was being affected by whatever was affecting the wild Pokémon, did that mean all trainers would become affected at some point? She turned her head to look into the recovery room, staring at her sleeping friend. She couldn't imagine either of them turning hostile. Sure, Shard would be merciless with his meals, but not anything or anyone else.

While the girl quietly stared into the room at her Pokémon, nurse Joy slipped away to take care of something else.

The sky was just beginning to darken when Shard woke from his slumber. His trainer was sitting in a chair next to the bed, slumped over with her head on her arms. She had decided to take a nap while he slept, which she woke from when he rustled the sheets by getting up to stretch.

"Mm...? Oh, hey." Xanora yawned as she stretched her arms up above her head. "Feeling better," she asked with a smile. The umbreon gave her a nod accompanied by a small purr, feeling much better than before they had entered the city. "Awesome. So, I heard a bit about the gym leader here while you were sleeping. He's not going to be easy to beat, at all." She decided to leave out the part about how he had turned hostile, just like all of the wild Pokémon. With any luck, the crazed gym leader would still hand over a badge if they beat him- and didn't end up badly hurting either of the duo if they lost.

Shard jumped off the bed and took a few steps toward the door before glancing back at his trainer. He was more than ready to participate in a challenging battle, she could tell. Chuckling, she pushed herself up from the chair and opened the door for the both of them to leave. She waved to Joy as she headed out of the building, saying good-bye as she went. Though she was anxious about the battle she was about to take part in, she trusted her partner. If anyone could handle a tough situation, he could.


	5. Chapter 5

The doors to the gym made Xanora pause. If what Joy had said was true, walking in with Shard out of his ball would mean an immediate attack from the gym leader's pidgeot. She hadn't told her partner about that back at the center, or on the way to the gym. Yet, for some reason, the Pokémon's hackles were up a bit. The umbreon sensed something wrong, or out of place, inside the building.

"Okay, are you ready?" The trainer smiled awkwardly as she spoke. The question wasn't so much to her partner as it was to herself. She could feel herself getting cold feet, even though Shard seemed just fine with charging in. The Pokémon answered her question by leaning to the side to brush up against her leg. He obviously knew she was trying to steel herself to the idea of walking into something that was probably dangerous.

Taking a deep breath for courage, she opened the doors and entered the gym. Once she and her Pokémon were several feet inside, the sound of wings greeted them. Just as she had been told by Joy, the leaders Pidgeot was already on the attack.

With the large bird heading straight for them, Xanora dove to the side as she told her Pokémon to go for a Feint Attack. Shard obeyed instantly, leaping just above the bird as it passed him by and kicking it with his hind legs. The kick had him in the air for a moment longer before once more being firmly on the ground.

The swift strike surprised the pidgeot, causing its flight to falter slightly. With a few powerful flaps of its wings, it avoided crashing into the wall of the gym and gained altitude. One attack had missed, but it wasn't done. It cawed and began violently flapping its wings, kicking up a strong wind.

A Whirlwind attack just wasn't something the umbreon could avoid. He crouched low in an attempt to hold his ground, but the wind was fierce. "Quick Attack!" One ear twitched slightly as he caught the order from his trainer through the sound of rushing winds. He was already crouched, so he kicked off as strongly as he could to charge toward the bird. Just as he leaped into the air to strike the pidgeot, the bird responded in kind with a nose dive, using a Quick Attack of its own. Knowing its beak would hurt him more than his head would hurt it, Shard broke out of his attack just in time by twisting himself around.

The momentum had the umbreon still in the air when the bird swooped low before once more aiming high, this time its wings spread wide. It was aiming to strike him with its wings, which would not be pleasant in the least with just how strong those wings were. He could just hear his trainer yelling for him to dodge, knowing what he knew, but dodging was impossible at that moment. Twisting away to barely avoid an attack in the air was one thing, dodging a full-body blow was another. So he did the only thing he could think of.

A glow began on the umbreons tail as he forced himself forward in the air. The Iron Tail collided full force with the Wing Attack, throwing both Pokémon off balance. The pidgeot's wing bent under the pressure of the blow, causing it to even out in its flight just long enough for Shard, who was just barely higher in the air than the bird, to claw his way onto its back.

Not caring to have a Pokémon on its back, the pidgeot began flying haphazardly, doing loops and flying upside down for several seconds at a time. The odd flight wasn't enough to knock the umbreon from its back, but going upside down almost was. The only way the umbreon stayed on its back when it began flying upside down was by biting into the back of its neck, which caused him to dangle from the bird until they righted in the air again. The second time the bird tried flipping upside down, the umbreon was prepared.

As the bird turned, he released his hold and slammed another Iron Tail into the birds back. Pidgeot screeched as the blow landed and it was struck from its desired flight course. Not able to right itself in time, the bird crash landed on the floor of the gym. The second the umbreon landed, he bolted after the bird in a Quick Attack. He wasn't going to give the Pokémon any time to recover. The fast tackle sent the bird flying into the wall, both of its wings outstretched from the impact. To ensure that the bird wouldn't be continuing, the umbreon continued his dash forward. Right before reaching the wall with the bird plastered against it, he spun in a front flip and crashed his glowing tail into its head.

Letting out a deep breath after watching the unconscious bird with his keen crimson eyes for several seconds, Shard turned and padded across the room back to his trainers side. The crazy flight he had been on had him just a bit light headed, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

Gently stroking her friends head, Xanora finally took a moment to look around the gym. It was empty, save for one person at the far end. Obviously Falkner, considering the pidgeot that was just taken down. Before she could get even one word out, the figure in the distance tossed something. A white light flashed as yet another Pokémon appeared in the gym. She found it strange that he wasn't talking, but even more strange that he wasn't recalling his knocked out pidgeot.

Standing in the center of the gym was the newly released Pokémon. It was a brown, wingless bird with three heads. A dodrio. "Go," Falkner ordered from the other side of the gym. Two if the Pokémon's heads looked back at him while the third eyed the duo. The head eying them was the middle one and it seemed angry, which was a rather common sight for Pokémon at this point. The sound of faint squawking occurred just before all three of the heads turned to look at the unconscious pidgeot at the side wall of the gym. While they were all looking that way, the trainer could see that one of the other two heads seemed somehow sad. She couldn't see the third one just yet, but she was sure she'd be seeing it soon.

Dodrio stood with all three heads looking at each other after the leader repeated his order. This Pokémon didn't seem as aggressive as the wild Pokémon, or as hostile as their pidgeot comrade. Rather, they all seemed a bit confused.

Taking the initiative, Xanora glanced down to her partner and mumbled, "go for a Feint Attack, then a Confuse Ray."

Nodding at the plan, Shard began slowly walking toward the grounded, confused bird. When he was only a few feet away from it, all three heads turned to look at him. Once they were all focused on him, he spun himself around and kicked up at the middle, angry-looking head. Landing with his back to the bird, he turned his head toward them as his eyes and rings began to glow blue. His colors returning to normal, he jumped back from the bird and waited to see the result of his trainers' plan.

Looking upward due to being hit, the middle head hadn't seen the full Confuse Ray. The other two heads, however, had been affected just fine. They began to squawk and peck at each other, which only annoyed the middle head and got that one to start pecking at both of the other two. Apparently furious at its other two heads fighting against each other, the middle head pulled up and glared at the umbreon that had caused the disarray. The body began moving forward, but in a very unbalanced way. It was as if all three of the heads wanted to control the body at the same time, but to walk or move in an entirely different direction than the others.

"Shard?" Xanora was having a slightly hard time keeping a chuckle from escaping her. Seeing a Pokémon fighting itself, and in such a way, was hilarious to her. Especially since it was only this one Pokémon that could pull off this much of a show while doing it. Seeing her partner glance back at her when she didn't follow up right away, she tried again. "Iron Tail on all three, middle first."

Nodding once more, the umbreon darted forward as his tail began to glow. The middle head squawked in alarm as it saw the attack coming, but couldn't do anything but make a poor attempt at pecking the incoming tail as it slammed into it. Between the other two heads at that moment, Shard ended up being pecked from both sides. They had gone at each other again, but he had gotten in their way.

His tail glow fading, the umbreon landed back on the floor and stared up at the two heads that were now focused on him. The Confuse Ray, and their internal squabbling, had ended. The flightless bird started forward, the two heads pecking at him furiously with each step. The attacks were swift, three of the pecks landing on the umbreon's back and side before the two heads looked down at the slumped third head. That small opening was more than enough for the dark Pokémon to make his move. He slammed into the bird's body, causing it to fall to the floor. The two awake heads tried jabbing at him with their beaks again, but he put an end to that by slamming his glowing tail into both of them, one after the next in a sweeping motion.

All three heads were out cold. That was one more Pokémon down. The bad feeling wasn't leaving yet, however, so Shard glared toward the gym leader. As expected, the blue-haired man was already tossing another ball. Not willing to play fair by waiting, Shard charged forward toward where the white light landed. Using the speed from his Quick Attack, he spun forward and slammed an Iron Tail into whatever Pokémon was about to show itself. Landing back on all four paws, he charged forward once more. He didn't even so much as glance back to see the hoothoot that had shown itself, already on the floor and dazed, as he ran straight into the gym leader. The force of the tackle from the speed he was moving at forced Falkner backward. The man slammed against the wall, his head hitting it hard as he himself passed out.

"Shard!" Xanora was shocked to see her friend actually attack a person. The room seemed to get a little bit lighter, but she pushed that thought away, believing it to be from the fact that her eyes had only just fully adjusted to the amount of light in there. She ran to Falkner and her umbreon, shock and concern more than evident in her features. Quickly, she reached a hand out and felt for a pulse from the gym leader's neck.

He was alive.

Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, the trainer turned her stare to her friend. Shard was simply sitting there, looking calm as could be. "Why...?" She couldn't get the thought out as she tried to figure out why he had attacked a person. Why he had suddenly lost all tension after attacking the man. The tension that had been there since before they had entered the gym was completely gone.

Shaking herself mentally to get back to what needed to be done, she once more looked over the unconscious gym leader. He'd have a nasty headache when he woke up, but was otherwise just fine. One by one, she picked up the Pokeballs and recalled the mans' Pokémon. Setting the balls right next to him, she glanced toward the doors. Just in case he was hurt more than he looked, she needed to get him to the hospital. She wasn't strong enough to carry a man of his size, however. Or any man, for that matter.

Getting an idea, she looked to her umbreon once more. "Can you carry him?" He tilted his head in response, glancing from her to the gym leader then back again. "Right, I know, too big. You'd only be dragging him." Sighing, she got up and headed for the doors. "Let's fine the hospital and let them know what happened."

.

It was morning two days later when Falkner finally woke in the hospital bed. As expected, he complained about his head hurting. What wasn't expected, however, was everything else he said.

Glad to see that her friend hadn't done any serious damage to the man, Xanora gave a sigh of relief. She was at the side of the bed, more than happy to see that he seemed to be in normal condition. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect my umbreon to tackle you after all of that battling."

Falkner stared blankly at the trainer. "What do you mean?" His brows furrowed as he tried to recall the battle. He shook his head. "I haven't battled you, though. My last challenger was some person in a black cloak." He paused. "At least, I think I battled them."

The only thing that came to mind was that the hit to his head had caused him a small bit of memory loss. She couldn't confirm that just then, however, as one of the nurses came over to check on him, forcing her to move to the foot of his bed. As the nurse asked him question after question, one answer caused all of them but the man himself to stop and stare.

"Sir... Falkner... That was two years ago," the nurse spoke softly, probably in an attempt to keep him calm. The question she had asked was if he knew what year it was. The day and month. He apparently lacked two years worth of memories.

"What? No. That's impossible." He was shaking his head, waving his arms in front of him in denial. "I remember everything just fine. The day was warm and sunny, only a few clouds in the sky. As usual, some person came into the gym to challenge me. I can't really tell you anything about them, since they were in a large black cloak. Couldn't even see their face." He paused for a moment to shake his head at how strange that challenger had been, wearing a heavy black cloak while it was so hot out. "I can't remember battling that person, actually, but I know it happened." He looked to the nurse, looking for some sort of reasonable explanation. "I fell asleep for a while. That's all. Just a long-feeling, cold, lonely dream. It hasn't been two years, just a few days."

The nurse shook her head at him. "I'm sorry, but it really has been two years since that happened." She checked on his vitals one last time before leaving the room to check on other patients.

Unsure where to even begin, Xanora allowed herself to blurt the first thing that came to mind. "You don't even remember the Pokémon getting aggressive with everyone?" According to Joy, the odd behavior began around the same time Falkner had his last actual memory. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"What?" He looked at her as if she were crazy. "Pokémon aren't aggressive at all. Unless you invade their nest, or den, anyway. Or try to steal their food."

"Joy, the nurse at the Pokémon Center, told me that almost everyone in this city is afraid of wild Pokémon now. There's even a police unit that patrols the city to make sure no wild Pokémon are wandering around."

"That's just not possible. I have an aviary near the gym for all kinds of wild bird Pokémon to relax and eat. I checked it just that morning, before that challenger showed up, and everything was fine."

All Xanora could do was nod. Arguing with this man would get her nowhere, not while he was so determined to believe that everyone else were the crazy ones and he was the sane one. She did want to know what was going to happen with her badge, though. "I did defeat you the other day, though. First was your pidgeot, then you sent out dodrio, and then a hoothoot." Before he could deny this fact yet again, she continued. "Before I could get the badge for your gym, though, Shard tackled you and you fell against a wall. That's what I was apologizing for after I first came in."

Yet again, Falkner claimed that the battle never happened. That it just wasn't possible. The new trainer sighed, seeing no way to get her badge unless she either fought him again or he came to believe her. She told him to ask the hospital staff and Joy about it before leaving. They hadn't seen her battle him, but she was the one that brought them to him. She was also the one that pointed out that his Pokémon needed healing. With any luck, he'd give her the badge without demanding another battle.

Without thinking, she had wandered right back to the gym. Shard was by her side, as always, but he no longer seemed to sense anything strange about the building. "If only I knew just what you sensed, buddy." Sighing, she headed back toward the Pokémon Center and Route 31. Surely a walk would clear her mind.

Leaving the city, the duo followed the path they had come from. It wasn't long before they saw a rattata off to the side of the path in the grass. It was minding its own business, not paying any attention to them at all. Considering how the Pokémon had all acted on her way to the city, it was incredibly strange.

Deciding to test the rats behavior, the girl slowly made her way toward it. Once she was a good six feet away, the purple rat looked up at her. She was expecting a tackle, or even an attempted Super Fang. What the Pokémon did, however, was simply turn around and take off into the woods. "What...?" She stood there, staring into the woods for several moments as she tried to process what had just happened.

First the Pokémon were insanely aggressive, and now they were acting normal. It bewildered the trainer to see such a major difference after such a short amount of time.

"Maybe..." Opening the fanny pack she wore around her waist, she took out one of the Pokeballs. There was one very good way to test if it was only that one rattata that was back to normal. Sending the hoothoot from its ball, she offered a small, wary smile. "Hey, Klaudan. Welcome to the team?"

This time, the owl Pokémon simply hooted and looked from her to the umbreon at her side. He wasn't making any sort of moves to attack.

Gaining some confidence, Xanora stepped close to the owl and knelt down, her smile losing its worried quality. "That's your new name, Klaudan." She motioned to the umbreon with a small wave of her arm. "And that's Shard, your new friend and partner."

The hoothoot hooted once more, this time flapping its wings slightly as well. It seemed like a happy enough expression. His calm or happy state was confirmed when the umbreon started wagging his tail slowly from side to side. If Shard saw no issue, then everything was fine.

That did bring just one question, though. All of the wild, and even wild-caught, Pokémon were super aggressive before Falkner got knocked out. Why were they suddenly back to normal after he had been defeated? Also, why did he have no memories from after the Pokémon began acting so weird. Something wasn't right. Not right at all.


	6. Interlude

All of the Pokémon around Violet City were back to their normal behaviors for the first time in two long years. None of the people believed it at first, remaining extremely cautious. After one of the police patrols came upon a flock of pidgey, however, curiosity and disbelief spread. The flock of birds, instead of launching an immediate assault on the three officers, glanced curiously at them before continuing to peck at the grassy ground.

Though it took around a weeks time, children were once again chasing Pokémon around and playing with them. Considering the fear she had seen in everyone when she first entered the city, Xanora was thrilled to see this positive change. The teachers at the Pokémon School were also working with wild Pokémon again, having reopened the school.

Just one thing kept the young trainer and her Pokémon from leaving the city. The gym leader based in this city, Falkner, was still being monitored in the hospital. The doctors were running test after test, trying to find the cause of the mans memory loss. A scan showed that he had no concussion. No head injury. His blood was being tested for toxins, the doctors trying to see if some sort of poison had entered his system and claimed his memories. No test showed any positive results, however, which had them all dumbfounded. Falkner, of course, insisted that he was fine. He also insisted, however, that he didn't somehow forget two full years. Not having left the hospital since waking up there, he was entirely sure that the hospital staff were either pulling a prank on him or trying to force him to get some rest, since he tended to push himself more than he should.

Not able to claim her first badge, mostly due to the doctors not allowing Falkner any visitors for the time being, the new trainer spent her time wandering around the city and training her newly acquired hoothoot and gastly. While Klaudan was mostly quiet and tended to do his own thing while not training, Akira the gastly was a bit of a prankster. He moved things around to see how long it took his new trainer to figure out what had happened to what she had. He also enjoyed disappearing at random, forcing a game of ghost-hide-and-seek on his trainer. His game of hide-and-seek did cause a little bit of trouble now and then, mostly by his appearing right behind a young child, scaring them.

Most of the training Xanora did with her Pokémon was outside of the city. Klaudan may have been the quiet sort, but he did seem to have an interest in getting stronger. At first, the training for him was having practice matches with Shard. They both held back in their attacks, making sure not to seriously hurt each other. After Shard first used an Iron Tail during one of their matches, however, his interest in sparring died down. Instead, he would often stand with his back to a tree, hooting low before trying to smack the tree with his tail feathers. He was trying to learn the attack that had landed with a lot of power. His lack of an actual tail made it impossible to learn that move, but he was determined enough that he didn't seem to care how long it took to learn the move.

This was yet another day of training for Klaudan. Xanora and her umbreon as well as hoothoot were just outside the city limits, once more practicing on the trees. The training hadn't showed much success thus far, but the girl wasn't about to give up when her Pokémon was so determined to learn.

"Remember, Klaudan, you have to focus all of your strength into your wings. Once they feel strong enough to crush a boulder, fly at that thick branch up in the tree and hit it with your wing." She wasn't the best at teaching a Pokémon a new move, but she was going to see this through. Her buddy Shard had learned the move by actually slamming his tail into rocks, so she tried to use that as an example for how strong his wings needed to feel to learn Steel Wing. She wasn't about to let him smack his wings into rocks, though. His wings, unlike the umbreons' tail, were vital to him. Tree branches would still hurt every time the move wasn't used, but they'd at least cause a lot less damage than rocks would.

Being day five of this sort of training, the girl was running out of bandages. Her hoothoot was so determined to get stronger by learning that move that he just wouldn't stop slamming his wings into branches. All the trainer could do was watch while trying to offer decent advice. If nothing else, Klaudan's wings would gain a good deal of strength. Even if the move just couldn't be learned, his Wing Attack would be quite the force from all of this strength training.

Hooting deep in his throat, as had become his habit during this training, Klaudan yet again launched himself into the air after bunching his muscles. Smacking his right wing into his targeted branch, he let out a grunt-like hoot before heading back to the ground. The branch was missing some bark, a decent chip in the wood, but the attack was once again a failure. He refused to target the thin, flimsy branches. Those would give false hope just from snapping. No, he only targeted the nice, thick and sturdy-looking branches.

Stepping over to her either annoyed or irritated owl, Xanora knelt down and stroked his head. "It's alright, Klaudan. Don't worry about it." Glancing up at the branch her Pokémon had chosen to hit, she chuckled slightly. "Hey, just think. When we started, you wouldn't have even made a dent in a branch that thick. You're doing great."

Cocking his head, the owl looked to his trainer to see her smiling down at him. He had gotten used to the worry her face showed by this point, but was glad to see that her worry wasn't nearly as bad as when this training had first began. His wing hurt horribly that first day, and she fretted over him the entire time while in the Pokémon Center. Now, instead of staring at his wings and trying to decide if he needed bandages or to be carried to the center, she simply smiled a little. It was encouraging, really. Actually damaging his targets was also a great show of his improvement. He hadn't thought he was weak, before he had been caught, but now he knew just how weak he was in compare to how strong he could potentially be.

* * *

 **Author Note**

This was literally all I could come up with in the week since I created and posted the last chapter. My desire to see this story to the end has drastically decreased, seeing that almost no one is interested. After all, what's the sense in writing something if I'm the only one that'll enjoy it.

If anyone wants this to continue, please post some sort of review. It can be something as simple as "Good stuff" or something as grand as what could be done to improve the story. Comment on how you liked or disliked the things in this story, in some way.

This will either be an interlude for the next chapter or just a small bit of personality showing at the end of the story. The choice of which this is, well, is up to you guys.

As my profile plainly states: No reviews, no stories.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**

Gym leaders deserve epic battles, so I did what I could to respect that in my own way. Apologies if that makes this chapter too long and battle-oriented.

Also, please let me know what you think of said battles so I know what to or not to do in the future.

All that said, please enjoy.

* * *

A month had gone by as Xanora remained in Violet City. Staying for so long, the young trainer had taken to helping around the Pokémon Center when she wasn't out training her Pokémon. It was the least she could do, since Joy was providing her with a bed and food. The center allowed for trainers to stay for free, sure, but the trainers didn't tend to stay any longer than a night or two. Sorting the supplies and helping to prepare meals was only a small help, but Joy insisted that even that was more than enough in payment to stay.

Just having finished breakfast, the young trainer was heading for the door to get more training done when Falkner walked in. The gym leader had been released from the hospital, finally, just a few days prior. Ever since, he had been trying to locate the bird Pokémon that used to be settled in in his aviary and trying to get the people of the city to tell him the truth of what was happening. Considering he hadn't been to the center just yet, Joy must be his last target for information.

Not yet half way to the door when the gym leader walked in, Xanora turned back toward the counter and called back, "Joy, Falkner's here to see you." The nurse was checking on a couple of injured Pokémon that had been brought in the day before by a pair of children. The kids in the city were back to battling Pokémon as well as playing with them, so injuries were back to being normal in the center.

"Oh?" The surprised voice that came in response was very low, Joy being down the hall and not raising her voice.

"Actually, I'm here for you." Falkner remained just inside the doors, not walking further into the center. Once he spoke, looking straight at the girl, he crossed his arms with a look of impatience. Or maybe it was irritation.

Stunned by that, Xanora stared for a moment before turning her attention back to the hallway. "Nevermind," she called back to the nurse who was just now coming down the hall. A bit anxious, she glanced down at her partner, who was standing at her side, completely calm, before once more looking to the blue-haired man. "What can I, uh... Do for you?" The trainer didn't really know what else to say, facing the either impatient or irritated gym leader.

"If you want my badge, you need to come to the gym and battle me." Seeing the trainer about to question him, he continued before she could get one word out. "I don't remember battling you, so as far as I'm concerned, I haven't yet. If you don't like it, go to a different gym in a different city." Yet again before she could speak, Falkner turned on his heel and headed out the doors.

Instead of only being anxious, the trainer was now confused. The gym leader actually came to the center just to tell her that he wanted a match. Or, a rematch, really. "Why..."

Giggling behind the counter, Joy shook her head. She had heard the exchange, her curiosity having her stay at the counter instead of continuing her checkups. The humor she saw was lost on the new trainer, so she attempted to explain the mans position to her. "The other day, while you were out training, Falkner came by with a young man carrying an injured pidgeotto. Apparently, the young man thought it was safe to travel again, so he headed toward Union Cave. He said that a flock of mareep relentlessly chased him down after hitting his bird with several Thundershocks. He claimed he only got away from them because they stopped chasing him, apparently confused, when he got closer to the city. Falkner was nearby and saw the mareep looking around as if they had just stepped out from a pitch black cave. When the two came here, Falkner asked me if it really was true about the Pokémon going crazy." The nurse shook her head then, releasing a small sigh. "It seems like only the Pokémon around here are back to normal." She spoke the sentence in a low tone, sadness creeping into her voice. She smiled in an obvious attempt to clear it away. "Anyway, when I answered him, he walked out in deep thought. He didn't seem to hear anything else as he left."

Xanora listened quietly as the nurse told her of the prior days' events. She finally had the chance to get her badge, but the news wasn't as great as it should have been. If only the Pokémon around Violet City were back to normal, that meant Pokémon from who knew how many other areas were still incredibly hostile to everyone. The thought had her looking down at her fanny pack, Klaudan and Akira's balls inside. She didn't know what she'd do if they suddenly turned on her when she left the city.

Her leg being pushed against brought the trainer out of her dark thoughts. Shard was leaning into her leg, staring up at her. The umbreon hadn't gone berserk when they left home. He'd been the same as always. That fact had her smiling down at him, lifting a hand to pat his head. "You're right, buddy. It'll be fine." Her mind put more at ease, she looked back to the nurse and grinned. "Guess this means I just have to go and have a rematch."

Smiling as well, Joy bobbed her head in a nod. "Good luck."

Walking out of the center, Xanora headed for the gym while talking to her umbreon. "If he's different from how he was that first time we battled, we better be careful. Got that, buddy? Keep a close eye on every move." She recalled just how aggressive the pidgeot was. It was easy to predict when all it wanted was to either knock out or kill the Pokémon that it went up against. The dodrio seemed confused right from the moment it got called out from its ball, so that opponent was decently easy to take down. If it wasn't confused this time, its trainer back to normal, it might prove to be a really tough challenge.

Coming up on the gym doors, the trainer paused in her step. The challenge was daunting the first time, yet she had to do it all over again. Glancing down to her umbreon, she was relieved to see that he was as calm as always. He wasn't overly alert, his fur standing on end, like that first time. If he was calm, she had no reason to worry.

Taking a deep breath for confidence, she smiled and stepped through the doors. "I'm here for my rematch."

Unlike the previous time the girl had entered the gym, the building was well lit. It was to be expected, entering the gym during the day instead of at night. Still, it gave the gym a much warmer, and less sinister, feel to it.

Standing at the opposite side of the gym was Falkner. He wasn't just some silent figure in the dark this time. Instead, he was kneeling down and stroking a hoothoot's head. He was showing care, something that he hadn't done previously. With her entrance, the gym leader stood and turned to her, leaning to one side. "I said we haven't battled before, so this isn't a rematch." Shaking his head, apparently thinking his challenger a bit dull, he stepped to the back wall, where there was an elevator. "The arena's up top, so come on."

No sneak attack. No surprise dive bomb from a pidgeot. Her smile turned to a grin as she watched the leader head to the wall. "Now this feels like a real gym challenge, huh, Shard?" The umbreon made a purring sort of sound from his throat in response. He seemed eager now, more than ready to take on the birds again. Only, this time, they'd have a real match instead of a death match.

Raising her voice for the gym leader to hear, Xanora called out, "Right, sorry, I forgot about that." A small chuckle escaped her as she walked over to him. Though she had already beaten him before, it suddenly didn't feel like she'd battled him at all. This was a different person with a whole different feel.

Once the elevator opened, the two with their Pokémon stepped inside. It was a short ride to the top floor, where the doors opened to reveal the roof of the building. They weren't going to be battling inside at all, but outside where birds had the advantage. Even still, there was a white-painted field marked for battles.

Falkner stepped out from the elevator and headed over to the far side of the roof where a smaller painted white rectangle attached to the larger one was, the marking for where a battler stood. A bit uneasy about battling on a rooftop, Xanora was slow in stepping into her own position.

"Challenger, please state your name." It was the referee that spoke this time. A young man that was standing off to the side of the marked battlefield, wearing a serious expression.

Not expecting to have to introduce herself, the girl stared rather blankly for a moment. Getting her thoughts together, she nodded. The nod was more to herself than the referee, but she'd be the only one who knew that. "My name's Xanora. I'm from New Bark Town."

The referee nodded once before turning his head to look straight across the field, looking at neither of the battlers. "The official Johto League battle between Xanora the challenger from New Bark Town and Falkner the Violet gym leader will now begin. At stake is the Zephyr badge. Each will use three Pokémon. Begin the match when ready." He spoke with his voice raised, the lines sounding entirely rehearsed.

Setting one hand on his hip in a cocksure stance, Falkner told his hoothoot to go. The owl flapped its wings and landed in front of its trainer, looking more than ready to take on the world itself.

Xanora looked down at her buddy and offered an apologetic smile. "Just hold tight, alright? I know you can do this, so I want to see if the others can, too." The umbreon remained silent, though he did sit and make himself comfortable. Nodding her thanks to the dark Pokémon, she fished one of the balls from her fanny pack and sent out one of her newer Pokémon. When the white light cleared, the gaseous purple ball that was her gastly was visible. "Let's do this, Akira!"

Seeing both battlers ready to go, the referee spoke once more. "Begin!" His declaration for the match to start was accentuated by a second young man beating a drum.

Akira, ever the prankster, stuck his tongue out before vanishing. His trainer just stared, her stomach sinking. "No no no, Akira, no! No hide-and-seek right now, this is a battle!"

"Your Pokémon aren't very obedient, are they?" Falkner's comment almost had Xanora hanging her head for even trying to use her ghost in a battle. Shard, however, growled in response. "Hoothoot, use foresight and tackle it down!"

The hoothoot spun in a slow circle, its eyes glowing red with a same-colored beam coming from them. Akira was revealed by the beam when the hoothoot turned fully around, but the bird never got the chance to tackle him. The second the ghost was revealed, literally a mere inch from the bird, he dragged his tongue up the birds body in a Lick attack. The hoothoot shivered as it was licked before falling prone.

While Falkner stood in disbelief, Xanora burst out laughing. She had honestly thought her ghost had decided that a battle wasn't worth his time or effort and had taken off. Seeing him actually manage to not only hit the owl, but paralyze it, too, well. She was laughing just from how much she couldn't believe it.

"Gastly is the winner!" The declaration came from the referee after several long moments. The entire time, Akira was floating around looking like he was having a blast.

Being glared at by the gym leader, the young trainer rubbed her cheek once her laughter died down. "Sorry. I wasn't laughing at you, really. I just didn't think he'd do that." She had to resist the laugh that was trying to escape her once more.

"Don't think that will happen again," the blue-haired gym leader remarked in a low tone as he recalled his hoothoot to its ball. Grabbing his second Pokeball, he called forth his next Pokémon. "Go!"

On the field, after the white flash, stood his dodrio. It looked a lot more determined this time, not even a hint of confusion in any of its six eyes. As she had suspected, this was not going to be an easy target for this rematch.

"Begin!" A drum beat followed the call from the referee.

"Akira, have some fun!" Xanora couldn't help it. If her ghost wanted to battle in a way that he had fun, then she'd just have to encourage it. So long as he actually did battle, anyway. Looking like he was laughing, the ghost vanished again. He planned to have plenty of fun with his game of ghost-hide-and-seek with these bird Pokémon.

Unfortunately for him, however, Falkner was having none of it. "Dodrio, use your Agility and Drill Peck!" Following its trainers orders, the three-headed, flightless bird began running around the field at top speed, the three beaks seeming to spin like drills.

For a while, the strategy seemed to be failing. But then the purple, gaseous ball of a Pokémon flew from the spot he suddenly appeared and skid across the field when he was struck by one of the beaks. He was out cold.

"Dodrio is the winner!"

Her face fallen, Xanora recalled the ghost to his ball. "You tried, at least," she said softly to the ball. It was Falkner that laughed this time, though his laugh was one of victory and not one of humor. Frowning, she glanced down at her umbreon. This bird was grounded, so Shard stood a better chance against it than he did a pidgeot with all of the sky to use as its field. "Your turn, buddy." She smirked once she spoke, knowing he had a great chance at winning. Unlike her poor ghost.

Shard stood and stepped into the field looking determined. It had been a long, long time since he had lost a battle. That said, it had been a long, long time since he had seen his trainer look crestfallen. Though it wasn't over his defeat, she had had one of her Pokémon defeated. He would claim victory where his new comrade couldn't and get her beaming with pride and joy again.

"Begin!" Another blow to the drum.

Two orders came at once; Falkner ordered for his dodrio to use Agility while Xanora called for a Quick Attack. Even determined to keep up, the umbreon simply wasn't as fast as the grounded bird. It was built for speed, more so than he was.

Knowing he had to trip the bird up somehow, he halted his vain attempts at tackling it and stood still, his rings and eyes emitting a blue glow. The move not being called out by his trainer, Falkner was slow to respond to the strategy. Dodrio, with its eyes all focused on its opponent, were hit with the Confuse Ray. His efforts were rewarded with his trainer grinning and saying, "good call, Shard!"

"Dodrio, you can do this! Tri Attack!" Falkner figured it was his best shot at getting rid of the umbreon, the attack needing all three heads to cooperate for it. They had practiced the attack time and again, so each head knew what position to take. It wasn't something they needed to think about, it had become habit. And just as he'd hoped, each head took their position and began charging the elemental energy.

"Quick Attack!" Xanora didn't even need to call the attack. Shard was already speeding toward the three-headed bird, zigzagging back and forth to throw off its aim. He didn't reach the bird before the attack was fired, but he had managed to avoid the attack by taking his zigzag approach. A loud crash echoed around when the ground received the elemental attack.

The smoke and dust blown up from the attack had the bird looking this way and that for its opponent, but none of the heads could spot the dark Pokémon. Shard had used the last bit of his dash to get behind the bird, out of its line of sight. One of the heads had the thought to look behind it, but it was too late. A glowing tail slammed hard into the birds body, forcing it to the ground as its legs buckled under the pressure. Knowing that wasn't enough to knock the bird out, the umbreon sped to the side before charging forward in another Quick Attack. This time, he sped right into each of the three heads one after the next, knocking the heads into each other as he rushed by.

Standing tall, proud, Shard stared at the unconscious bird. Each head was sure to be hurting when it woke up, not to mention the bruise on its body they were sure to have the joy of sharing the pain of.

"Umbreon is the winner!"

"Yes!" Xanora formed a fist and grinned, thrilled with how the battle had gone. Unlike the last time, her buddy had gotten through the fight without taking a single hit. Maybe the three-headed Pokémon was best in situations where it was confused instead of when it knew what orders to follow.

While Falkner was grumbling under his breath, the young trainer called her umbreon back to her side, ruffling his head and scratching behind his ears. "You did amazing! Gah, just wish I could think of things half as fast as you do." Giving a small laugh, she eyed the Pokémon. "You know, maybe you should be the one training Klaudan and Akira, and not me." Knowing she was both complimenting him as well as joking, the umbreon gave a chuckle-like purr.

Standing straight again, Shard once more by her side instead of in the field, Xanora grabbed her third ball and smirked. "Your turn, Klaudan. Show us the results of our training." Excited to see how well her owl could do, she sent him out onto the field.

On the other side of the field, Falkner had sent out his pidgeot. "You wont be winning this one. A hoothoot can never hope to outspeed my pidgeot." His expression was half annoyed and half proud. Likely annoyed to losing two of his Pokémon, but proud of just how great his pidgeot was.

Knowing just how much trouble the pidgeot could give, Xanora eyed it while telling her hoothoot to be careful.

"Begin!" Another bang of the drum.

Falkner wasted no time at all. The second the match was announced, he ordered, "Wing Attack!"

"Klaudan, fly up! Dodge it!"

The hoothoot was more than willing to dodge instead of face off against the pidgeot flying toward him. That bird was more than twice his size. It also moved with a precision that he had yet to achieve, which told him that this enemy was a veteran to battling. He knew flying up right away would mean remaining an easy target, however, so he waited. He'd gotten used to close calls by sparring against Shard, so he did have timing down, at the very least.

Just before the pidgeot rammed its wing into him, Klaudan launched himself into the air. He spun a bit from the force of the larger bird flying under him, throwing him off balance. He heard his trainer call out to him to use Peck, so he did what he could to fly after the much larger, much faster bird.

"Agility!" There was a laugh in Falkner's voice. He believed his pidgeot to be uncatchable.

Unfortunately, the five-foot bird was indeed proving to be faster than anything Xanora had seen before. It actually flew fast enough that it seemed to be disappearing and reappearing, like her ghost did, while it was using Agilty. The gym leader called for a Quick Attack and the large bird appeared behind Klaudan before zipping forward and slamming right into and past him, sending the hoothoot spiraling through the air.

The young trainer tried to think of a way to get around the opponents massive amount of speed, but she wasn't given much time at all to think. Falkner called for yet another Quick Attack. Without thinking, she called out, "Wing Attack, behind you!" Klaudan turned just as the pidgeot appeared behind him, but his wing attack was no match to the pidgeot's Quick Attack. He was once again sent spiraling through the air from the blow.

With Wing Attack not being strong enough to even get in the pidgeot's way for a single second, the only option was for Steel Wing. "Try to catch up!" The little hoothoot did his best to fly after the pidgeot, but it was obvious that he was being outsped. Yet again, the gym leader called for a Quick Attack. "Steel Wing this time!"

Turning around to catch the pidgeot behind him, Klaudan spread his wings and let the glow consume them. He had finally not only learned the move, but had gotten very good at it. Branches were hardly any sort of obstacle, so he was thrilled with the chance to see what his newest attack could do against another Pokémon.

The two birds collided in the air, both stuck in place for a moment, before the pidgeot won the test of strength and yet again blasted right by the hoothoot, sending the smaller bird tumbling down. He couldn't pull up from the dive this time, and so he crashed into the field. He wasn't feeling too great, being hit several times by that powerful bird. The worst part was that his new attack, with so much power, seemed to be useless.

"Klaudan!" Seeing her owl hit the rooftop hard, the girl was worried. He could take a hit, he'd proven that time and again. But he wasn't even trying to get back up, this time. That was what worried her the most. "Don't give up! Not after all of your training!"

Lying there, the words his trainer shouted annoyed him. He never gave up. Not unless a better course of action was presented to him. He'd spent most of a full day trying to learn how to make his tail feathers strong, after all, and only stopped when he was told that his wings could do the job that his tail feathers couldn't. He did learn the new move, too. It took a couple of weeks, but he'd learned it.

Irritated over his own thoughts, the hoothoot lifted himself to his feet. Spreading his wings outs, he eyed them each in turn. He then eyed the pidgeot circling in the sky up above. They both had wings. Both of them could fly. But his wings were stronger. They had to be. Beating his wings to once more take to the sky, he chased after the pidgeot.

"Jeez, don't you know when to give up? Your hoothoot can't win. Not against my pidgeot."

Falkner was smirking a bit as he spoke, which earned him a glare from the girl. "Never underestimate someones determination." She'd seen just how hard her owl trained. He pushed himself harder than any Pokémon she'd seen before. Someone looking down on that work was not something she'd stand for. Looking up to the two birds, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted up, "Remember how hard you worked! You can do it!"

His wings glowing, Klaudan flew after the pidgeot. All he needed was one solid hit on that larger bird. Just one. With how strong his wings had become, he knew he could win if he could just land one solid hit. The pidgeot's trainer called for the same move again, so he turned and crashed into it yet again, Steel Wing against Quick Attack. Yet again, the pidgeot overpowered him. The larger bird was just too much bigger than him.

Spiraling downward yet again, the hoothoot forced himself to straightened out and fly back up. He had to catch up. He would catch up. With single-minded determination to land a Steel Wing on the larger bird, he flew as quickly as he could push himself to.

Even from the ground, the little hoothoot's determination to keep going was obvious. Not just because his wings were glowing, but because his entire body had begun to glow. He was evolving. Once the glow faded, a noctowl was where the hoothoot once was. The small, hardworking wings had become long, strong and graceful wings.

Stunned with a Pokémon evolving during his battle, Falkner called for his pidgeot to make another Quick Attack. He became even more stunned with what happened after.

The pidgeot again got behind the other, no longer smaller, bird. However, it then froze where it was, unable to move. There was a faint blue aura around the bird as it sat perfectly still in the air, not moving forward nor dropping. Klaudan was watching it unblinkingly, keeping it locked in place with his Confusion. He then flew forward with newfound speed, his wings glowing in yet another Steel Wing. The psychic attack holding pidgeot in place faded, but not in enough time for the bird to dodge the incoming Steel Wing.

A solid blow finally landing, the pidgeot began falling, all of its air knocked out of it. Klaudan flew after it, ready to strike again if it pulled up from the dive. When the opponent crashed into the ground, Klaudan beat his wings to land easily. The pidgeot was knocked out from the fall.

Everyone stared in shocked disbelief at the two birds on the field. Even the referee took several moments before he announced the winner of the match.

Shard pushing against her leg was what snapped Xanora out of her stunned silence. She ran forward and hugged the bird that was now just the tiniest bit taller than her. "You did it! Klaudan, you did it!" Beaming about the victory, and even more about her owl evolving, she backed up a step to get a good look at him. "And look at you! You evolved!" Taking a good look at his spread wings, which had spread out when she hugged him so unexpectedly, she laughed. "Your wings are going to be insanely strong, now! Just look at you!"

The Noctowl was confused at first, but then looking down at himself, hooted at his trainer with his own small bit of joy. Mainly pride, since evolving meant he could still get even stronger. The wings he had grown proud of had grown so much larger, and so much more dependable. Looking to the unconscious pidgeot, he puffed his chest out. His wings could take down anything now, he felt like.

"I can't believe I lost..." Falkner recalled his pidgeot, shaking his head. Stepping up to his challenger, he offered a lopsided smile. "Guess I was wrong, your hoothoot had potential after all." After a moment, he pulled something from his pocket and held his hand out. "You've earned it. This is the Zephyr badge."

Giddy over her Klaudan evolving, Xanora took the badge with a huge smile. "Thanks. But I think Klaudan earned it more than I did."

The gym leader laughed at the comment, seeing the noctowl with its chest puffed out with pride. He then lost the humor, eying both the Pokémon and its trainer. "If you plan to go to other gyms, you better be careful. Your noctowl is strong, sure, but there are stronger Pokémon out there."

Her laughter died as she considered Falkner's words. Wild Pokémon weren't anything too bad when they were alone, but from what she'd heard from Joy about what had happened the other day... She shook her head. "I know. I'll be careful."

Parting ways, and leaving the gym, Xanora headed to the Pokémon Center. Her Pokémon, Akira especially, needed a good rest. She'd let them relax for the rest of the day and night, then be on her way in the morning. She may have gotten a badge, but that didn't stop wild Pokémon from being more than willing to attack them. If she had to deal with an entire herd of aggressive mareep, she'd need to be rested enough to think of an escape plan.


End file.
